N. Korean Army Running out of Food...Soldiers Ordered to Sleep Rather Than Do Training

2010-03-04 03:00

Sources, "Officers go AWOL for a long time to feed himself."

N. Korea's recent shortage of food is reaching close to the level during the famine in 90's, aka 'March of Suffering.' In particular, discontinued food aid from international community is reportedly hurting soldiers most.

Sources say that food situation in N. Korean military have rapidly deteriorated since the second half of last year. Civilians learned to survive without government ration, but soldiers cannot survive unless the state provide them with food. Stopped food aid from international community dealt a serious blow to them.

According to one of the sources, since the latter part of last year, many units can only provide a few dozen corn kernels or a couple of potatos (per meal) and they have only enough for two meals (a day.) Order came down to make soldiers sleep in the afternoon and not put them into training or work as much as possible.

Another source said, "Malnutrition among soldiers are increasing fast, and I have even seen a case of an unmarried company commissar who went home, stayed for a month, 'replenish himself with calories', before returning (back to his unit.)"

This is what BO wants America to become. It’s not fair that we eat Big Macs and drive our SUVs while North Koreans and others starve to death. We should all starve. It’s how you “save da planet” don’t you know.

All this information leaking out to the outside world. A great embarrassment to Chia Head. It must be really infuriating. Hence, repeatedly issuing decrees to crack down on cellphone or other way of communication to outside world. According to latest report, it would now earn mandatory execution by firing squad.

This is from a major S. Korean daily Donga Ilbo (one of the top three.) The article is in Korean. I translated first half and posted it.

It may hit foreign media later, sometimes in a day or two sometimes longer. On certain occasion, this kind of information got embedded in a related (foreign) article published later. I am just trying to give you the first crack.

There is certain amount of noise in these kind of reports. Sometimes several versions are floating around, and in some cases contradict each other.

However, malnutrition and hunger has been going on for some years. That is nothing new, but ordering them to take the afternoon off and go to sleep is a new development.

The reporter for this article, Zu Sung-ha, is a defector from Pyongyang who attended Kim Il-sung University, the best and the most selective(not just academically but also ideologically) university in N. Korea. He is no doubt from N. Korea's elite, and may have some connection among elite circle of N. Korea.

I suspect that if Chia Head orders full-scale invasion, many of these malnourished soldiers find the field combat too physically demanding and pass out in the battlefield. As you said, if SK military broadcast the promise that they get to eat three meals a day, all of which are white rice and meat soup, thousands could lay down their arms and gladly become POW.

They are chronically malnourished, barely strong enough to walk around. Many of them may have occasional blackouts from anemia due to malnutrition. You can't fight under this condition.

Tiger - just out of curiosity, what is the opinion of the ROK people to eventual reunification? Are they studying the German example to project the costs/pitfalls, or is it too soon to start thinking about it?

Many are torn between imperative of unification and its cost. This is the angle the local left wants to exploit. They don't want S. Korea to unify the Peninsula on its terms. However, Chia Head's bandit style antics pissed off too many here. They now want Kim Jong-il gone.

The most likely scenario, if S. Korea has it way, is that N. Korea becomes S. Korea's protectorate, and maintains border and different economy, while politically managed by S. Korea. Then allow N. Korea to use its labor cost and low currency to develop its economy concentrating on labor-intensive industry first. Probably outsourced factories of major S. Korean corporation will relocate to N. Korea. However, breakup of N. Korean regime has unpredictable elements, and things can happen which is beyond any outsider's control.

I tried, but it's in a language I can't read - presumably Korean. As for the reliabilty of the translation, I can only speculate, but no part of me believes that the North Korean Army will starve before the citizenry...try reading any other article about the North Korean food situation from the past 10+ years.

It isn’t obvious that the recent history is any guide here. Any quasi-normal people still alive will have found ways to eat just enough to stay alive by now while the same is not necessarily true for soldiers as the article mentions and if the soldiers are too weak to function, they’ll also be too weak to take food from civilians.

For last decade or so, military got bulk of its food supply from foreign aids. Ships carrying grains or other stuffs dock at N. Korean port, and soldiers in civilian clothes came out driving trucks pretending to be civilian workers, haul grains into them, and drove back to their unit.

Another source is to loot food from civilians. That has been common practice, too.

Yet another source is that military units operate their own farms, growing grains and sometimes cattle.

Military keeps large amount of grains for war-time reserve. It can be only released during war-time. NK is quite strict about it. So it is off limit to military in peacetime.

Diverting food aid, looting from civilians, and growing their own food cannot completely meet the need of military. After all, there are millions of them. Many suffer from malnutrition. A phrase is coined for this problem: Yong-shil-goon. 'Yong-shil' is a short abbreviation of malnutrition in Korean. 'Goon' means military. It means army of malnutrition.

Those who cannot get enough food eventually have to seek help from their family. Officers used to condone conscripts to go home for a while when they don't have enough food or get sick. It is a kind of rotation system. Soldiers take turns to go home, recuperate and return to unit. However, there are those who just disappear after going out ostensibly to their home. There are reportedly many such soldiers on the run inside N. Korea. Since everybody is more preoccupied with finding food to survive, catching so many deserters is not exactly a top priority.

Since last year, incoming food aid from overseas, including S. Korea, dried up dramatically. Military took big chunk of fall harvest, but that was not enough. Harvest was not exactly good. Currency reform and border crackdown pretty much closed off remaining channel of grain inflow. Cross-border trade with China and private market broke down. It is said that some amount of grains were smuggled in for last couple of months into N. Korea. Still it is doubtful that they have enough quantity to feed currently starving population.

Food aid cut off, civilians themselves have little to eat and starving badly, not enough grains are smuggled in. All these contribute to the situation that many common soldiers are chronically hungry and weak, which resulted in this latest development.

“This is what BO wants America to become. Its not fair that we eat Big Macs and drive our SUVs while North Koreans and others starve to death. We should all starve. Its how you save da planet dont you know.”

You’re right that the N. Korean army has been diverting food aid away from the population for years. That’s my point. Since the regime depends upon the army for stability and couldn’t care less about the civilian population, the army as a whole will not starve while the civilain population has food. In the short term they may be able as individuals to get food from their families, who must themselves then do with less, but ultimately Kim must either feed his army or risk losing his hold on power.

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